Finding Family
by Rosieobe
Summary: Luke Smith was downloaded with more than only 21st century human DNA. He knows that Sarah Jane loves him because he is human. That's why she kept him. He knows that there is something wrong with him, something different. So, when he dies and comes back, he runs away.
1. Prologue

Jack Harkness was alone, and always would be. He had never been good at forming meaningful relationships, but now, now that anyone and everyone he ever loved would die before he did, it was even harder. For a while, he'd held on to the hope that he would find someone else like himself, that he would be able to love someone, and be with them forever. But it would never be. He wouldn't find anyone like himself, he wouldn't be able to have a soulmate 'til death do us part', he would never have a proper family. It was, as the Doctor so charmingly put it, all because he was 'wrong'. Jack couldn't die, but, as he continually asked himself, was not dying the same as living? Could you live without loving?

Luke Smith was afraid. No one, not even his mum or Maria, had noticed yet, but he wasn't getting any older. He had been created a year ago now, and he was exactly the same as he had been when he was 'born'. Sarah-Jane had only adopted him because he was human, that's why she kept him, but Luke knew, he knew that he was different. Scientific journals stated that his body was supposed to be changing, his voice getting lower, more body hair, getting taller, even. Stuff that Luke had watched Clyde struggling to deal with over the year. Luke wasn't doing any of that. He was developing emotionally and mentally, but his physical body seemed to be stuck. Would he be human enough for his mum? For Maria? For Clyde?

**A Year Earlier**

"Jack!" Toshiko called through her earpiece. Jack himself was retrieving a piece of space junk that had fallen through the rift. The scanners had indicated it to be harmless, what Jack had found was a child's doll from Poosh. "Captain! I know it's out of our usual territory, but there are some very unusual reading cropping up around Ealing, in London?"

"Report."

"Well, there's a new company, it's called BubbleShock, I believe, and it has gotten approval on it's drink in under six weeks. Along with that, the sensors are picking up some unusual readings. No rift activity, but there are signs of some sort of alien tech in their facility."

Jack pulled up the advert on his computer, wincing at the obnoxious tune. Two words stuck out at him. 'Contains Bane.' "Tosh, tell me it didn't say 'contains Bane', please tell me it didn't."

"Sorry sir," Tosh replied, bemused, "it definitely says 'contains Bane'. That was another curious thing. I can't find any ingredient called 'Bane' anywhere…"

"That's because it isn't an ingredient," Jack interrupted, "it's an alien, Bane is a species of alien."

"They put alien parts into their drinks? That's disgusting." Tosh exclaimed. "Are we going then? Should I collect the team?"

"Yeah, tell everyone that we're going on a little road trip."

Of course, Owen had an alien to autopsy, and Gwen was still grounded from the sex-alien debacle. Three would be enough for a reconnaissance mission, though, if they needed backup they could call in Gwen and Owen later.

"So," Jack began suggestively, "what do you two kids want to do on the ride over?" Ianto sighed.

"Well," Tosh replied mildly, "I figured I would pull up the schematics of the BubbleShock factory, any extra information on the company, and anything we might have on the Bane, in order to put together a plan of action. As you are driving, I thought Ianto could help me."

"Of course," Ianto agreed quickly, "I would be pleased to assist in any way possible."

Jack pouted. "You're no fun."

"No," Tosh agreed, "we're not 'fun', not in the way you mean it."

It was a fairly simple mission. Ianto attempted to get in touch with the people in charge, Tosh got a sample of the drink and tested it, while Jack went on one of their guided tours to see what he could find out from the inside. He had been a bit wary about going through the scanner, but everything his scanners told him, said that it was only a scanner. It didn't even register his alien tech. There had been an emergency part way through the tour, and they were all ushered out, but Jack didn't get back on the bus, two girls were missing, he needed to see if they would be alright, plus, he wanted to see if he could figure out what the emergency was. However, about fifteen minutes later, he saw a boy, one of the missing girls, and a woman he knew as Sarah Jane Smith exit the building. He left quietly, going beck to the SUV.

"So?" Tosh asked, "Did you find anything?"

"Yes," Jack replied shortly, "the situation is under control. It's not our problem anymore, this falls under someone else's jurisdiction." Jack saw the question on their faces, and quickly cut them off. "Need to know only. Let's head back to the hub."

Jack didn't know that his information had been downloaded into the boy who would become Luke Smith. He didn't know that parts of his physiology from the 51st century were a part of Luke Smith. Because, as Ms Wormwood said, every strength, every weakness was a part of Luke. And what was stronger then the ability to come back from the dead?


	2. Chapter 1

**The First Death of Luke Smith**

The first time Luke died, Mr Smith was using him to pull the moon towards the earth. He was only gone for a moment, in fact, Luke was unsure if Mr Smith even noticed, but Luke knew he'd been dead. His synapses had been overworked, and he had been dead. Of course, as Mr Smith didn't stop using his brain to destroy the earth, it looked as if he was heading in that direction a second time, but his mum had come and taken care of it all, as always. Everyone was celebrating. They had stopped the end of the world, Luke didn't, and never would have any parents out there looking for him, and Mr Smith wasn't going to be evil anymore, once he'd rebooted, anyway. But Luke felt sick inside. He'd known that he was different for a good while now, he wasn't growing, wasn't changing, hadn't even gotten pimples, but now he knew. He wasn't human, at least not all human. Sarah Jane wouldn't love him anymore.

Luke snuck upstairs, packing a bag quickly. He had to leave, he wasn't human, so Sarah Jane wouldn't want him anymore. He didn't belong here, on Bannerman road, not anymore. Not when he wasn't human. When he couldn't be Sarah Jane's son an longer.

He'd run away. Of course, he'd leave a note, explaining what had happened to him, how he wasn't human. He didn't want them to worry about him, and they wouldn't, not after learning that he wasn't who they thought he was.

It was cold. Luke had been on the streets for about a month now, evading the police, trying to forget his mum, and Maria, and Clyde. He couldn't get close to anyone, he was wrong, he wasn't human, and he could put them in danger. Sometimes, when someone smiled at him on the street, he struggled to remember that he couldn't make friends, but all he had to do was remember how he had given the key to destroying the earth to the Slitheen, how he had nearly pulled the moon into the earth, and he never wanted to get close to anyone again. He was dangerous. He couldn't get close to anyone, they would use him to destroy, to kill, or he would put them in danger. He wasn't normal, and he didn't have the luxury of pretending he was. He ran, getting as far away from everyone as possible.

Ianto hurt. The cannibals had just finished 'tenderizing' him. He knew that he'd done the right thing, helped Tosh to escape, but the cannibals were worse than anything he'd met before, and Ianto was scared. At least the cybermen had the excuse of their emotions being removed, these people were exactly that, people. And they tortured people and ate them for fun.

"Who are you?" Whispered a young voice. Ianto attempted to look around, forgetting that he had a bag over his head. "I'm under the table. They haven't gotten around to me yet. Think I'm too skinny. They've been fattening me up for the past week or so."

Ianto attempted to speak, his lips swollen, and his jaw sore. "Why do you want to know?"

"Because," the boy whispered, "I don't want to forget you once you die. The people going through here…they deserve to be remembered by someone. Even if it is only until they kill me too. If I can escape, or get rescued…I can pass on messages. I've got one from everyone who's passed through since I got here. Tommy Brighton, to his girlfriend, 'I love you. Even if I couldn't say it before, I do.' Annie Black, to her parents, 'There are letters for Riley, once he's old enough in my diary. Raise my son to be a good boy. I love you.' Celia Gordson,"

"That's enough." Ianto interrupted. He continued even more quietly. "You'll get out. I'm with the police, they'll get here eventually. They might not get here in time for me, but you'll get out of here, promise."

"The police?" The boy whispered. "You mean…someone's noticed? They…they said that no one would ever notice, that we would be forgotten. That…that…" the boy trailed into sobs. Ianto couldn't think of a thing he could do to comfort him.

There was rustling in the passage. Ianto heard Gwen, then Tosh and Owen. His heart sank. No one, not even the little boy, was getting out of here alive.

Luke had been living off the land, foraging for food in the Welsh countryside when he'd been caught. He had been on his own for six weeks, living off mushrooms and bulbs for the past eight days, so he was too skinny for the cannibals to eat yet. He felt like he was living the story of Hansel and Gretel, only it wasn't sweetened up for children, and his captors weren't as easily duped.

By the third week of his captivity, he'd started gaining a bit of weight, and five people had died in front of him. The last one had screamed for what seemed like hours, she had been so frightened, and Luke couldn't do anything. He was chained to a table, the table where they worked, and blood had soaked into every inch of his clothes.

At three and a half weeks, two new people were brought into the room. He closed his eyes, scrunched himself up into a ball, and pretended he wasn't there. He knew he would ask for their names, ask for a message he could pass on, but not yet. He didn't want to acknowledge that he had to watch two more people die. He wanted to help them, but there's only so much a fourteen year old kid can do, even if he did have the brain power of ten thousand people. Even if he couldn't die. Neither of those gifts were any good against handcuffs and chains, he didn't have a lock pick, and, while his brain could calculate how much pressure was needed to break the chains, where the best spot to apply said pressure, there was still the simple fact that he couldn't supply anywhere near that amount of pressure, that amount of force. He was helpless, useless.

Luke watched in amazement as the new man helped the woman escape. Luke attempted to calculate the odds of her being able to get away, to get help, but he came up disappointed. While there were too many variables to get a definite answer, no matter how he stacked the situation in the woman's favour, the odds were still too small to be of any comfort. Based on her accent, she wasn't from around here, she was still tied up, and it was nighttime outside. Luke sighed, and filled his head with memories of Maria, Clyde, and Sarah Jane. They were a bit bitter sweet, as Luke knew they no longer loved him back, but they were better than listening to the man getting beaten by the cannibals. There would be time to ask the man for his name and last message later. For know, all Luke wanted to do was escape into his own mind, to days gone by, of happier time when he could debate theories with Mr Smith, and get lessons on how to be 'cool' from Clyde, save the earth from the dangerous aliens, and befriend the nice ones.

Jack rammed through the building with the tractor he'd stolen, shooting at the cannibals who'd captured his friends. Once everyone who wasn't his team were down on the ground and not moving, Jack lowered his weapon, before going around to each of his team and cutting the ropes that bound their hands.

"Did I shoot anyone I'm not supposed to?" Jack asked shortly. He really hoped none of the people he'd shot were actually other victims, he'd gone for the shoot first, ask questions later approach.

Ianto checked quickly under the table, finding a young boy, presumably the owner of the voice that had talked to him earlier, handcuffed and chained to the table. He was covered in blood.

"Oh…my…," Ianto gasped, "Owen! Owen, get over here!"

Owen practically ran over, neatly avoiding the villagers on the floor.

"Oh crap," Owen swore, "Kid, it'll be okay. We're getting you out of here. Were you shot? Do you know where all that blood is coming from?"

Luke gulped. He presumed that these were the man's police team. He couldn't get caught by the police, not if he didn't want to be tested on, or used. He knew he had a few cuts, all on his hands, from either the handcuffs, where he'd struggled against the metal, or the scalpel that they had dropped once. He'd tried to pick the lock for hours, cutting up his hands in the process, but he couldn't do it, and eventually his captors had noticed and the tool had been taken away. They were all pretty minor, he could probably handle them by himself. A few cuts were better then if the police found out that he wasn't normal.

"The blood isn't mine, sir." Luke answered quietly. "It…it…they didn't move me before killing the other people. They were…cut up on the table. The blood dripped."

Owen was horrified. Even if the kid wasn't physically injured, he'd taken enough psych courses in university to know that the kid would probably be messed up for life. He looked…twelve? Thirteen?

"Sir? Um, Owen? I'm fine, but you should probably check on your friend. They beat him up pretty badly."

Ianto was in the process of falling over when Owen turned around to check on him. Jack leapt over and caught him before his head hit the floor. Owen hurried to check on him.

Toshiko had been watching the proceedings carefully. It was important to have someone focussed on the bigger picture during a mission with hostile captives. The cannibals could still try something, even if Jack did shoot them. She noticed the boy struggling with his chains, and caught Gwen's attention.

"Watch the lowlifes. I'll go free the boy." Gwen nodded, and backed up against the wall, so she could watch everything at the same time.

Tosh looked around for a key to the handcuffs, it had been easy for Jack to free his four team mates, all he had to do was cut the ropes, but the boy was tied up in pounds of thick chain and handcuffed on top of that.

"Hello sweetie," Tosh murmured to the boy, "do you know where the keys to your handcuffs are? I can pick the lock on the chains, but the handcuffs are a bit too delicate for any tools I have on hand."

"It's on top of that cabinet over there." Luke whispered. He would have to run for it, when the rest of them were busy. They were still guarding the cannibals, if he ran for it, they'd definitely notice. No, it would have to be when they started moving the villagers. They wouldn't be watching him as closely then. He just had to remain free until then.

"Got it!" Tosh called. She returned with the key quickly. "And here we…" she trailed off, key inches from the handcuffs. "I thought you said that you weren't hurt." She accused.

"They didn't hurt me." Luke muttered. They hadn't. All his injuries were his fault.

"Well, what do you call the cuts on your hands? Owen! Once Ianto's stable, get back here, would you?"

Owen turned around from where he was bent over Ianto, and moved over to Tosh. "There's nothing more I can do for him. He's stable, got some nasty bruises and a couple broken ribs. I wrapped those. All he needs is some rest and some pain meds now."

"That's good. Now, what I want to know is why this child has cuts all over his hands, but says that he wasn't injured?"

Owen inspected Luke's hands. "These are all self inflicted. Probably made while trying to get his hands free. If he's in enough shock, he might not have noticed."

Tosh immediately melted. "Poor kid. It must have been horrible. Can I free him safely?"

Owen looked back down at Luke's hands. "It looks like some of them might have scabbed over the cuts. They'll have to be reopened anyway, to be treated, who knows what kind of crud they scabbed over. It'll hurt 'im though."

"Get them off." Luke pleaded. They had noticed, but maybe if he promised to get someone to look at his hands he could still escape. "Please, I don't care if it hurts, just get them off me!"

"Ok sweetie." Tosh agreed. She unlocked the handcuffs, and looked to Owen.

"I'll take 'em off for 'im Tosh." Owen took pity on her. He reached down, and tugged them off quickly. Like when removing a bandaid, sometimes one quick shock is better than a long, drawn out process. Tosh moved to the lock on the chains.

"Ah, this lock is pretty easy. It'll just take…" The lock clicked. The villagers may have taken most of Tosh's things, but she still had hairpins.

"Oh," Owen muttered, "a woman of many talents, are you, Tosh."

"Don't you know it, Owen Harper." joked Toshiko.

Luke wriggled out of his constraints, standing up as quickly as possible, only to pitch forwards, head first. Owen caught him easily, holding on to his shoulders.

"Oh, easy there, kid. How long have you been sitting down there?"

Luke thought about it. "Well, they caught me three and a half weeks ago, and tied me up like this three days in, so…about three weeks?"

Owen's eyebrows raised. "Three weeks? No wonder you're a bit wobbly. You'll probably need to take it easy for a bit. You really need to get yourself checked out. Might need physiotherapy for a bit, as well as antibiotics, and maybe…how have they been feeding you, kid? You look a bit peaky."

Luke decided to tell the truth, or as much of it as possible. The man from earlier, Ianto, had said that they were police. They might be able to tell if he was lying. "They've been trying to fatten me up, really. I think it was mostly healthy enough, no…people, anyway."

Tosh went positively green at the thought. It hadn't occurred to her that they might have fed the boy human flesh.

"It was a delicacy to them, didn't want to waste it on me. The food they fed me was a bit fatty, greasy if you'd prefer, but…but they said healthier people taste better."

Owen struggled to remain professional. "Well, you must have been a twig when they found you, if you're only this big now. You should check for malnutrition too."

Luke could hear sirens coming. His chance to escape would be coming soon! "Thank you, sir." He saw Jack pick up Ianto to take him to the ambulances. Saw Owen rush off to check that his boss wasn't jarring anything important. Saw Tosh checking on the cannibals. Soon. Luke could run soon.

"Wait." Jack said, stopping in his tracks. "You, boy…" Luke froze, his heart pounding. Jack passed Ianto carefully to Owen, and came stalking over to Luke's side. The man breathed deeply. "It's almost not there, so covered up with fear, and blood and death. How…how on earth, do you have 51st century pheromones?"


	3. Chapter 2

**Meeting Torchwood: Who are you, What are you, and How are you Possible?**

"What do you mean?" Luke asked cautiously. He didn't know anything about 51st century pheromones, but the Bane had made him to simulate humans from the 21st century, and the research Luke had read back at Sarah Jane's house said that while baby humans have the ability to detect pheromones, adult humans do not. So, even if Luke did have weird pheromones, how did that man detect them?

"I don't really have time for a genetics lesson today." Jack answered impatiently, "Besides, you're the one that's got them. I would like you to tell me how, now."

Luke was panicking. He didn't know how much these people knew, who they were, what they would do with him. He wasn't even really sure about the social rules of conduct for the situation, and so went with Clyde's motto. 'When in doubt, deny everything.' "I couldn't possibly know what you mean, sir."

"That's it." Jack lost his patience. "You're coming with us, now." Jack moved over and grabbed Luke's arm, dragging him away.

"Hey!" Luke shrieked, struggling, "What are you doing! Let go of me!"

"Jack!" Toshiko yelled after them. "He's just a boy!"

Jack looked back at her. "No, Tosh, he's not. I don't know what he is, or where he came from, but he most certainly is not, just a boy."

Luke was brought into the hub three hours later, wearing handcuffs once more. Jack immediately hustled him into one of the spare cells.

"Tell me what you are!" Jack demanded. "How did you get here?"

Luke was on the verge of sobbing, his breath hitching at his throat. He couldn't tell them what he was, he just couldn't! They were obviously one of the military teams that worked to defend humans against the earth, Sarah Jane had never liked them, always saying that their tactics were wrong, that there was a better way to deal with alien encounters. Who knew what they would make him do if they knew of his abilities? Besides, he wasn't sure about what he was anymore anyway, he couldn't answer the man's questions if he wanted to.

"I don't understand!" Luke yelled angrily, attempting to mask his fear, "What do you want from me? I'm normal, I promise!"

"What do we want from you?" Jack murmured calmly, the switch from enraged to cool and collected frightening Luke more than the man's rage ever could. "We want to know what you are. If you're a threat. And, as the Torchwood motto goes, 'if it's alien, it's ours.' I'll leave you here to think about that for a minute."

Jack went back upstairs to the main part of the hub, where he found Owen and Tosh watching the boy in his cell.

"Has he done anything interesting yet?" Tosh merely huffed and looked away from him. "Ooh, the silent treatment, is it? Very mature of you, Tosh." Owen practically ran to his autopsy room. He didn't want anything to do with that argument.

Tosh burst, "He's crying! He's only a boy, Jack, and he was held captive by cannibals for weeks, with evidence of being malnourished before then, and then he was kidnapped, locked up, and yelled at. What were you thinking?"

"I was thinking, that he definitely isn't human, or at least not a modern, normal human, and he could be dangerous! Aliens can be deceiving, people in the future can be dangerous! Or haven't you stopped enough apocalypses to understand that yet?"

"Of course I know that, Jack! But don't we usually try to get along with them first? Innocent until proven guilty?" Tosh replied, just as angrily as before.

"Just because he looks innocent doesn't mean he is, Tosh. I don't know if you've noticed, but the kid hasn't answered any of my questions yet. If that doesn't look guilty, I don't know what does."

"Yes, he has! He keeps telling you he doesn't know. Have you considered the fact that he might be telling the truth? All we have on him, is that you think he smells funny. Maybe your nose is wrong."

"It's not, Tosh, trust me. There's something off about that kid, and I'm not letting him go until he answers my questions."

"Fine." She muttered, "just…don't hurt him, okay? Something tells me he's just a kid. If he is lying…well, kids do that when they're scared."

"Go home, Tosh." Jack ordered kindly. "You've had a rough day." Tosh looked willing to protest, until Owen rejoined the group.

"I'll be here Tosh." He assured her. "I got off pretty easy today, comparing to you, or Gwen or Ianto. I'll make sure the kid's alright."

"You sure?" Tosh asked speculatively. She didn't really see Owen caring much.

"Hey, he's a patient. I spent my time diagnosing him, I'm not going to make him worse. Besides, Hippocratic Oath."

"Doesn't stop you from shooting people."

"It'll stop me from shooting a patient. Trust me, Tosh. You'll see the kid, safe and sound in the morning."

"Alright. I'm trusting you, Owen. Live up to my expectations."

Luke looked around his cell. It was rather sparse, and seeing how they hadn't removed his handcuffs, there wasn't anything in its design that he could use to escape. He really hoped that the 'Jack' man wouldn't come back down. These people were obviously some military organization that fought aliens, based on the many species of creatures he's walked past on his way to his cell. Sarah Jane hadn't liked the military organizations. Just because she didn't love him anymore, didn't mean that he would stop trying to make her proud. In fact, he would try harder, as it would take more to make her proud, now that he couldn't be her son. Jack seemed intent on finding out what he was, and while Luke was rather interested in knowing that as well, he couldn't let them find out. They would want to use his brain, he could give them power that they couldn't access without him. What if they had some of those telekinetic headsets? Luke couldn't imagine the destruction he could cause if they got him into one of those. He had almost crashed the moon into the earth last time, and if these 'Torchwood' people got him into a similar situation, Sarah Jane wouldn't be there to save the world. He'd seen the entrance. They had a deadlock seal. Even with her sonic lipstick, Sarah Jane wouldn't be able to get to them. No, he wouldn't tell Jack anything. It was much too dangerous.

Owen watched as the boy sat, unmoving within the cell. The scans that were monitoring the boy indicated absolutely nothing out of the ordinary. He was a fourteen year old boy, perfectly normal, aside from his medical conditions.

"Jack, the kid's perfectly normal. Fourteen years old, several medical conditions. He's not physically a danger to anyone. Well, except himself. He needs medical attention."

"I'm coming too. I'm not leaving him alone with you."

"Whatever. As long as I'm able to look him over."

"Mmm. Look for anything unusual that the scans might have missed while you're at it, would you?"

"Sure, Jack. But remember, I'm on the Right's for the Squirt Team tonight, or Tosh'll rip my head off and feed it to you."

"Hmm, not sure if that's really where I want your head, Owen. In fact, I can think of several better places for it …"

"Oh, shut up, Jack, it's gonna be a long enough night as it is. We're almost there."

Luke could hear two of the men coming. They didn't use torture anymore, did they? It was against the law, that's for sure, but seeing how they thought he was an alien, maybe he had different rights? Maybe he didn't have any rights. Luke hated not knowing things. He had read up on all the current scientific discoveries, current events, memorized the key points in history, could quote British Law, could calculate anything, knew most of the classics, and had started making his way through Mr Smith's files on alien's and alien technology. He'd even been taking 'classes' with Clyde, and, to a lesser extent, Maria, on how to blend in to the teenage populace. But he didn't know what to do in this situation. He had nothing to compare it to, he had no materials to work with, and no one to call for help. He'd read a little in Mr Smith's files on Torchwood, and what he knew wasn't promising. As Jack had said, their motto was 'if it's alien, it's ours.' If they found out that he wasn't normal, they would lock him up forever, experiment on him. If they found out that he couldn't die…goodness knows what they would do, both with him, and if they managed to recreate his ability. He had read up on Canary Wharf, he knew what had happened. Torchwood wasn't trustworthy. They had caused that tragedy, they could cause another one; Luke wasn't going to help them do it. Not ever. Sarah Jane would be so disappointed if he did.

"Kid?" Owen called cautiously. The boy was simply lying there, curled up on the padded bench in the cell. "Kid? It's Doctor Owen Harper. You need to come with me, so I can look you over."

Luke's breath caught in his throat, and he vaguely recognized the signs of impending hyperventilation. They were going to 'look him over'. Sarah Jane had saved him from UNIT, because she thought that they would experiment on him. They couldn't, could they? A single choked reply came bursting through his throat. "No!"

Jack and Owen backed up quickly, even, Jack, who wasn't feeling particularly friendly towards their newest visitor didn't want to scare him. Just make sure he wasn't a threat. Owen looked at Jack helplessly. The kid needed treatment, but it was hardly going to help much if the he had a panic attack, or injured himself trying to get away.

"What do you think is making him panic like that?" Owen asked him eventually.

Jack contemplated a while, before spouting off suggestions. "Could be Iatrophobia? No, he wasn't this scared of you in the countryside. Perhaps it's left over from when he was a captive of those disgusting cannibals. Maybe they would give him check ups? See if he was…ready?"

"Yeah," Owen agreed, "second one seems more likely. Maybe he wouldn't be too opposed to me treating him down there, as long as I explained everything I was doing, and its purpose. You wouldn't get your extra scans…"

"Not pressing. I'd like those scans eventually, but, as Tosh said, there's no proof he's dangerous. It can wait a bit, 'til he's more comfortable."

"Great. I need to go mop up is wrists, get those handcuffs off, and get him on a proper diet. We might need to have Tea Boy get more than take away and pizza for a while. The kid needs real food, not junk."

"Aww," Jack nearly cooed, "is ickle Owiekins going all Mommy bear on the kiddywinkie?"

"Just being a good doctor, Jack. Anyway, speaking of the kid, shouldn't we figure out who he is?"

"Mm. I'll run a search. You ask him for his name while you're down there."

"Sir, yessir."

The two men had come and gone. They had been talking about experimenting on him, and had simply left when he said 'no'. Clyde would probably call them pushovers if he was with him, Luke thought, that or he'd simply be relieved. It was easier, however, to remember Clyde Langer as the cool kid than to remember how he was when he was worried for him. It reminded him of how Clyde wouldn't care anymore, not now that he was an alien, and that hurt. Luke missed having people care about him.

Suddenly, Luke heard a cart rolling down the hallway. Perhaps they were bringing dinner? They would feed the creatures in their cells, wouldn't they? Luke didn't think that the aliens in the cells looked emaciated, but none of them were of a variety he'd met before, or even researched with Mr Smith, perhaps these ones were extremely skinny for their kind, maybe they were supposed to be…

Owen entered the cell with all the equipment he had deemed necessary for the check-up, interrupting Luke's increasingly panicky train of thought.

"Hey, kid. You freaked out quite a bit when we suggested coming up for a check up, but, as you really need one, I figured a compromise was in order."

"No. I don't…I don't want…I'm normal, you don't need to…" Luke was freaking out. They were going to cut him up down here! It wasn't sanitary! He could think of at least seventy five different infections that he could contract if any of the reddish slime in the corner touched his bloodstream.

"Okay," Owen placated, "well, at least let me take off those handcuffs. I don't want your wrists getting any worse. And while I'd like to do a couple tests…" Owen finally realized what was wrong when Luke flinched at the word 'tests'. "No, kid, I promise, we don't experiment on aliens here. I promise. I just wanted to get a blood sample to see if I needed to add any specific supplements to your diet, or if you just needed to eat more."

Luke shook more. "I ate fine. They…they fed me lots."

Owen felt like both a jerk and an idiot at the same time, a first for him, even though enough people had called him both, on regular intervals throughout his entire adult life. The cannibals. Even if the boy was an alien, who said aliens didn't get traumatized? He may not have taken many psych courses in uni, but he'd taken enough to know that you're not supposed to mention feeding someone who was force fed by cannibals for three weeks, in an attempt to make the child fat enough to eat. "I'm sorry kid. Let's get you out of those handcuffs."

"Thank you." Luke mumbled quietly. When Dr. Owen started swabbing at his wrists with rubbing alcohol, he didn't protest. While Jack might be scary and someone Luke should definitely look out for, Owen seemed okay. He seemed to want to help him get better, even if that was only because he was a good doctor. Luke had noticed that the man cared before Jack had classified him as 'alien', and the trait seemed to extend to potential aliens as well. Even if the man had no social skills to speak of, Luke didn't care. He'd made a few too many social miscalculations to judge.


	4. Chapter 3

**Luke Smith Revealed - Alien or Not?**

Owen had returned approximately half an hour later, with several cartons of Chinese take out, most consisting at least partially of vegetables, and a bottle of orange juice. Apparently, Luke had the appearance of someone lacking in vitamins. The man had left him to eat, after he noticed that Luke wasn't eating much with him there. He'd spouted something eerily familiar, almost as if he was quoting one of the medical journals Luke had read at Sarah Jane's, all about eating disorders and body image, something Owen concluded was probably brought on by the trauma of being force fed by cannibals, before leaving Luke in peace. Luke was, in reality, more worried about Owen slipping him drugs in his food than his body image, but he appreciated the man's concern. He quickly went about ascertaining what, precisely, was in his food, before eating one of the containers. He needed to save the rest for later, a practice he'd picked up on the run. There was no knowing when the next meal might come.

Jack watched the boy carefully over the monitor, quite confused by his current behaviour. The boy was thoroughly examining his food, inspecting it clinically, first visually, then by smelling it, then dipping his finger in and carefully placing a drop of whichever sauce smothered the food, before moving on. The kid was maybe fourteen, what on earth did he think he would find? Even if he was from the fifty first century, as his pheromones indicated, Jack hadn't known enough science by the boy's age to discern anything by the sort of evaluation the boy was conducting. Even in the future, what little he'd seen, the education of children wouldn't cover food testing till at least the university level. Of everything Jack had seen, this proved that the child was different, because the one dish the boy had set aside, after the longest period of testing, had been the one Owen laced with sleeping pills. The doctor had been concerned with how tired the boy looked, and when he'd shown no signs of sleeping on his own, had decided to take initiative. It was unnatural, to see a child so methodical, so scientific, so prepared. Children shouldn't be that way, not even children from the future.

"Tosh!" Jack called out the next morning, noticing her walking quietly to her cubicle, at least three hours before he expected her in. "What are you doing here? I thought I told you to rest?!"

"I did rest!" She lectured. "I slept for the appropriate eight hours that an adult my age ought to, and then I came back in to work, as I'm paid to."

Jack didn't believe her for a minute. "The boy's fine, Tosh. We didn't even manage to slip any sleeping pills past the kid, so I didn't bother trying anything stronger. Owen was a perfect advocate, even got the kid to eat some vegetables."

Tosh was quickly pulling up the video surveillance to the boy's room on her monitor. "Oh yeah?" She challenged. "Is that why he hasn't eaten anything yet?"

Jack joined her, taking the stairs two at a time. It was true, mostly. It appeared that while the boy had eaten something, judging by the empty carton on the floor, he hadn't eaten nearly enough to make Tosh, or Owen happy. Owen had given him enough for a single person's meal, he should have been able to eat it all in one sitting. "Strange. Owen watched him start eating, but after that we basically left him alone for the night. He looked hungry enough, so why did he only eat one dish?"

Tosh got up suddenly, knocking her coat on the floor. "I'm going to go talk to him. Maybe get him to eat a danish, or something."

"Oh, and ask for his name! Owen got distracted last night, and my search didn't turn anything up."

Tosh turned around, incredulity spread across her face. "You never asked his name? You found time to look him up on our data base, but you couldn't even ask him who he is?"

"Umm…" Jack mumbled, "maybe? I don't do well with interviewing kids."

"Well, if you won't show any humane treatment to the boy, I will." Tosh replied furiously. Jack could talk to everybody, sure, maybe kids were the only thing he couldn't flirt with, but still! It was a pathetic excuse, and Jack's discomfort proved that he knew that.

Luke heard another person coming down to his cell. It was too light to be Owen or Jack, so Luke guessed that it would be Tosh. He knew that the other two people on the team would be too injured to come into work today, unless they used some sort of alien tech to heal them faster.

He saw the asian woman approaching through the glass, proving him right. He wondered what she was here for. He still had plenty of food, and Owen had nearly promised that they wouldn't conduct any tests, and at that point, Luke had run out of ideas.

"Hello?" The woman greeted timidly. "I'm Toshiko. We need to know your name, so that we can contact your parents." Tosh thought that she'd start small. Perhaps if they found the boy's parents, then she would be able to persuade Jack to leave the boy alone.

"I'm," Luke replied hesitantly. He didn't want them to call Sarah-Jane, he wasn't human, so she couldn't be his mum anymore. She wanted the human Luke, not whatever he actually was. "I'm nobody."

"You must have a name," Tosh wheedled, "everyone's got a name."

"You can call me Luke." He finally replied. They wouldn't be able to connect him to Sarah-Jane with his first name only. Mr Smith might be looking for him, but she wouldn't have been able to report him missing to the police, not without too many questions popping up.

"No last name?" Tosh asked hopefully. If he was an alien, he might not have a last name, but if he was human, as Tosh suspected, it would be much easier to find his family and send him home if they had a last name.

"Just Luke."

"Alright." Tosh agreed, slightly disappointed. It didn't prove he wasn't human, but it certainly didn't help either. "It's nice to meet you, Luke. Would you like some breakfast?" Tosh held out her bag of pastries. It was a bit disappointing, not being able to get a last name, but at least they could stop calling him 'the boy'.

"But I've still got food, miss." Luke was terribly confused. Why would they give him more food when they'd given him enough last night for the week? He'd take it, of course, the more he could save up the better, but it was terribly confusing.

"That was your dinner." Tosh explained slowly. "That was one meal. You're a growing boy, you need to eat more."

"Thank you, ma'am." Luke whispered shyly. These people, they thought he was an alien, but they still seemed to care. Sure, he was locked up, and he just knew that they wanted to run tests, discover what was wrong with him, but he didn't care. They cared. Even though he wasn't human, they cared.

"Which one's your favourite?" Tosh asked, kindly. "We've got danishes this morning, raspberry, apple, or cherry."

Luke thought, hard. Sarah-Jane hadn't kept danishes in the house, neither had Maria or Clyde. They had things like toast in the morning, toast and eggs, maybe some bacon. They didn't keep too many sweets in the house. Later, when he was on the run, he hadn't had any either. Bakeries had great rubbish bins, for a runaway. They had to throw out the food that was too old to sell. "I don't know. I've never had one."

"Oh…" Tosh murmured, uncertainty staining her voice. "Well, raspberry is my favourite. You should try one of them."

"If they're your favourite, shouldn't I choose another?"

"Oh, sweetie, we have plenty. Take whatever you like."

"Thank you. I will."

Tosh left soon after Luke had taken a danish, promising to come back down with some tea, later. She needed to talk to Jack, and soon.

"No!" Maria yelled, desperately. "We can't! We can't leave!"

"Maria…we can't put our life on hold forever. Luke might be back soon…and he might not. Sarah Jane will call us when he turns up."

"Please, dad! We can't go. What if he calls? What if he comes back and needs me? What if I could do something, if I remembered something that could help find him? I can't do that from America."

"If you remember something, then we can call. I'm sure Sarah-Jane will keep you updated, and if he comes back, then I promise, I'll put you on the next plane back to visit. If you feel so very strongly, we won't go, but this is a very big opportunity, and I would very much like to take it."

Maria was happy for her father, truly she was, and she wished she could support him, but…it was Luke. Her very best friend. "Just one more week, Dad! Please. Then, I promise, we can go."

"Jack." Tosh called out to the empty hub. Her boss's coat was draped over the back of one of the chairs, but that didn't really help much. No matter what Gwen thought, the man didn't wear the coat at **all** times. Just most of them. There really were way too many places to hide in their base, it was quite annoying when a person was looking for someone. "Jack, we need to talk."

The enigmatic man hopped up into Tosh's line of view from beneath one of the computer monitors, throwing down a wrench. He seemed to be in the midst of fixing some of their broken tech. "What is it? Find anything important?"

"Well, his name is Luke, and either he's a time travelling alien, or he's been abused." Tosh reported. It was the only alternate state of affairs that matched up with all of the facts.

"Abused? What makes you think that?" Jack knew that he'd been captured by those cannibals, which would account for most odd behaviour, so why would Tosh immediately jump to abused?

"He either doesn't know his last name, or doesn't want to admit what it is, which points to runaway. He's never eaten a danish before. He doesn't expect to be fed often, he thought that the Chinese food we gave him for dinner was expected to last a week. Must I continue?"

"No," Jack muttered absently. "I've got it. That all points to runaway. I was looking for a kid who'd been missing for a couple weeks, tops, but if he was on the run when he was caught, I'll need to expand my search parameters. He could have been missing for years." Jack raced up the stairs two at a time, dropping into his chair to adjust the parameters searching the missing persons database. Jack merely adjusted the time period that the computer was sifting through. The boy was most likely lying about his name, and there was no need to rule out valid options by searching for a name that didn't exist.

About half an hour after Tosh had given him a danish, Luke had another visitor in the form of a crabby doctor.

"Luke, right?" He asked, then ploughed on without waiting for an answer. "You willing to come upstairs today? There's tea waiting, and I'd really like to conduct a proper check up, make sure that nothing else is wrong with your health."

Luke looked up at the doctor untrustingly. While the man was most definitely his favourite among his captors, he was still one of his captors. He wasn't his host, or his friend, he was one of the people who took him from one set of kidnappers to their own base. He was not their guest, he was their prisoner. It did not make for the beginning of a very trusting relationship. Luke was not one to get Stockholm Syndrome. He'd read up on it, and promised himself never to be so stupid. If a person kidnaps you and doesn't allow you to leave, they are not your friend. They do not care for you, they are not nice people. They are kidnappers, and they want something from you. The previous set wanted to eat him. This set seemed to want to discover how he worked. They were probably one of those groups that Sarah-Jane talked about, the groups that fought off aliens with guns and violence. They might be supported by the government, but that didn't make them good. They weren't offering him a lawyer, he wasn't arrested, he didn't get a phone call. They weren't like the police. They'd kidnapped him. He had to remember that. However, they didn't seem to want to hurt him in that instant, in fact, they seemed rather eager to put him at ease. It would probably be better if he cooperated. They might stay nice if he did. "Sure."


	5. Chapter 4

**Welcome to Torchwood**

Sarah Jane Smith was at her wits end. Her baby was missing, and she couldn't even report him missing, since he wasn't legally hers. He wasn't legally anybody's, he shouldn't really exist, but he did, and he was hers, and he was gone. On top of all that, Maria was leaving soon. By the end of the week, most likely. Clyde wasn't coming around as often since Luke left, said he couldn't justify coming over so often to his mum. It was strange for a boy to hang out with an old lady. Soon she would be alone again. She was always left behind.

Luke waited impatiently in his cell. It was good, he couldn't even see any flaws to manipulate. He couldn't escape on his own. He'd always been able to help in the escape before, like when he found that secret passage in the room when the Gorgon locked them up, or when he'd used Clyde's phone to bust them off Kudlak's spaceship. But this was high security, using several different alien technologies. The people who held him were no amateurs, and they were obviously accustomed to locking people up. He would have to wait until they moved him to attempt an escape. There would be no point in trying anything stuck in his cell.

Owen was in the midst of reorganizing the med bay when Tosh came in, fuming mad. He'd been attempting to clear up the freakier stuff before dragging Luke up for a check-up. The poor kid was freaked out enough without having to look at little pieces of alien littered around the place. He figured that he'd try and keep the kid as calm as possible.

"Owen! How did you not recognize that Luke had been abused? It's obvious!" Tosh was furious. She was practically spitting fire from her nostrils she was so pissed. Her anger was magnificent, glorious, even, but it was seriously disturbing Owen's work ethic. He very rarely had a work ethic, so it was doubly upsetting.

"Well, I haven't actually been able to give him a check-up yet, have I." Owen grumbled. He didn't mind his coworkers insulting his sex life or his personality, but he didn't appreciate Tosh implying that he wasn't competent at his job. It was the only thing that he knew he could do properly, and people usually acknowledged that. When they didn't, it made him quite upset. He was proud of his job, and his competence while doing it. "The kid wouldn't come with me, he freaked out."

"Because he's been abused! You need to make sure he's okay."

"Ever consider that he was kidnapped? Held hostage by creepy, cannibalistic freaks for weeks? It would be enough to give anyone a couple weird quirks."

"I know that, but he's a kid, and he hasn't been reported missing. He won't tell us his last name, hasn't eaten a danish before, and doesn't expect to be fed more than what we gave him last night all week. He's obviously a runaway, at the very least."

"Fine, I'll check for long term abuse during the check-up. Think you can get him up here? He wouldn't come with me, but he might come up for you."

Tosh smiled at him happily. She knew that Owen would help. He might be hard on the outside, but he really did care about his patients, in his own, twisted way. He would help her, help her help the boy. "Thank you Owen!" She hopped up and gave him a brief, awkward hug. The doctor stiffened, uncomfortable.

"Yeah, yeah, just grab the kid." Owen was quite uncomfortable with praise outside of his job. It was way outside of his comfort zone.

"Of course." She murmured succinctly. She could be professional when she wanted to be.

Of course, she wasn't completely happy. Walking down to the holding cells was a tiresome business. There were way too many steps to begin to be reasonable.

Luke heard footsteps coming down the stairs. They were lighter than the others, proving that it was most likely Tosh coming to see him. Seconds later, he was proven right. It made him sad. He wanted to be normal, to be a regular kid. A regular kid wouldn't be able to discover the sleeping pills they mixed into his food, to identify a person based on the sound of their footsteps. He wanted to be Sarah Jane's son. That was all he wanted to be.

Tosh hummed as she went to collect the young boy in their holding cells. He really needed to be checked out, and potentially booked for months of intensive therapy. She knew that she did, and she had only been with those cannibals for a couple hours, tops. Ianto had said that Luke had met the people who died before him. That he remembered them, and had messages for their loved ones. She couldn't even imagine how he must feel. He must be so scared, so frightened. He was just a kid, and he was being held in some freaky government jail cell.

Once she got to the boy's door, she swung around to a full stop. "Hey, Luke. I know you didn't want to last night, but Owen really needs to look you over, make sure you're not hurt anywhere. Think you could come with me?"

Luke was confused. Was this just a pretence? A ruse in order to get him to go get experimented on? But, why would they need a ruse? If they wanted to conduct experiments, they could simply take him by force. They didn't need his permission. "Do I really have a choice?" He finally asked.

"Of course. But I would highly recommend coming with me. I might even be able to swing a visit to the showers out of the trip." Tosh smiled brightly, trying to be as nonthreatening as possible.

Now Luke was suspicious. Why were they being so nice? Did they want something from him? Were they going to use him to help eradicate alien life on earth? What did they want? He decided, that as long as they were being nice to him, it couldn't hurt to ask. "What do you people want from me?"

That small, insecure question almost brought Tosh to her knees. He was almost more suspicious of her when she was being nice than he was when Jack was being hurtful. He hadn't seemed all that surprised when he was arrested, simply scared. Now he looked confused. As if he couldn't understand why she was being nice to him. "You're just a boy." She answered simply. "Jack says you're an alien, and he's almost never wrong, but even he doesn't really think you're dangerous. You're just a kid. It doesn't matter what species you are, I'm going to treat you like one."

Luke hadn't really thought of that before. Theoretically, he knew that there were loads of alien species that were good, or, at the very least, harmless, but he knew he wasn't one of them. Even if he, himself tried to be good, he was still dangerous. He almost destroyed the world multiple times over. He was simply too powerful. He may look it, but he wasn't just a kid. On the other hand, however, if they still thought he was just a kid, maybe they didn't yet know what he could do. Maybe they weren't planning on using him. Maybe he could still trust them, just a little, and only for a short while. "Okay." He mumbled. "I'll come with you."

Jack smiled, pleased. They would finally be able to get some answers out of the kid, maybe find out where he was from, if he, or his people, were a threat. He knew Tosh thought the boy was a runaway, perhaps he was running from some sort of threat? They needed to know, and quickly, so that they could deal with it.

The boy seemed strangely familiar, though, which disconcerted Jack to no end. He smelled like Jack's people, and he looked so very familiar. Jack wasn't near ready to meet an old acquaintance from the Boeshane Peninsula. He'd been running from there ever since his baby brother died, and he was no where near ready to stop.

Maria logged on to her computer reluctantly, unwilling to betray Sarah Jane so completely. It wasn't the best option, not for Luke, not for Sarah Jane, but it was the only thing she could think of. It would be for the best.

Sarah Jane had mentioned a few old friends of the Doctor's, as well as a couple that still worked in the alien business. Maria knew that the woman didn't want anyone else involved, but they needed help, and some of these people might be able to provide it. The young girl only hoped that she wasn't destining Luke for some sort of government lab, or worse, but she was only contacting the Doctor's friends, not others. They wouldn't hurt Luke…would they?

Quickly loading up the laptop that Mr Smith had hacked to show the websites of multiple alien hunting organizations, Maria searched for the contact info for a certain 'Captain Jack Harkness'.

Jack's email pinged loudly. It was strange, very few people had his email address, and the few that did rarely used it. It was his work address, but most people knew to contact him on his phone, by text or actually calling. He'd almost forgotten that the email accounts actually existed. Gwen didn't even have one yet, they were so out of use.

Intrigued, Jack moved over to his computer monitor, deciding to trust Tosh and Owen with the kid. He could grill him a bit more later.

"Maria Jackson" He read aloud. The contact info declared her true name, but the address itself was inherently childish, _marialuvspinkpolkadots jackson_ _ . It was hardly what he'd expected to find in a top secret, government authorized, alien hunter's mailbox. Especially with the title URGENT beside it. It sounded like the email address of a girl in middle school. The second part of the address was interesting, it implied that at least one of her parents was a computer nerd, or someone quite important. Perhaps she should get someone to do a background check on her and her family. Later. The two underlings he had today were busy, a background check could wait until Gwen and Ianto were back at work.

Deciding that he'd learned as much as possible from the sender information, Jack put up all the firewalls, making sure that the computer he was using was completely shut off from all the others in the lab. The last thing he wanted, was to download a virus that would wipe all their data, or open up the doors, or shut off the power. There were many potentially devastating effects that a computer virus could put in place among their equipment, and he was not going to be the one that let one in. After he was assured that the firewalls were working properly, he opened the email. The contents were…interesting, to say the least.

'Dear Captain Harkness,' the letter began, 'My name is Maria Jackson, and I am trusting you with something very important. I feel that, as a former companion of the Doctor's, you can probably be trusted. I can't give you the details in this email, as I don't know who reads them, but I would appreciate if you'd come meet with me, tomorrow, in front of the Parliament buildings in London. I'll be sitting on the fountain between two and three 'o' clock in the afternoon. Sincerely, Maria'

Jack was surprised to say the least. To have mentioned the Doctor by name, to know that he'd been one of his companions. Very, very few people knew that information. That one of those people would ask for his help was even more surprising. He'd need that background check, quickly.

Owen waited impatiently for his patient to appear. It was taking longer than usual, but then again, he'd been watching Tosh attempt to cajole the kid into coming up in the first place, and they were now completing the shower that Tosh had promised. It was good, working on a clean patient was easier than a dirty one. It was just annoying, because Tosh had taken down all the cameras in the bathrooms once she'd arrived, claiming that sexual harassment would be a major issue, very soon, so he had no way to see whether they were close to finished or not. Of course, he'd agreed with Tosh at the time. He maintained the belief that Jack was more than a little bit gay, and his boss had no sense of personal boundaries.

Owen started humming, and opened up the solitaire application on his computer. It wasn't his usual anti-boredom game to play, but the more risqué ones were out, as he didn't want to frighten the kid.

"Owen!" Tosh's voice echoed from the bowels of the subterranean structure. "We're coming up! If you're doing something you're not supposed to, stop in the next thirty seconds."

"Whatever could you mean, Tosh?" He replied teasingly. "You know I'm a model employee." He could see the two figures as they entered the main room, and he grinned. Finally, he would be able to really look after his patient.

Note:

I know that Sarah Jane hadn't technically met Jack yet at this point in time, but work with me. In this universe, I'd like to think that Rose mentioned him at some point, or something, and then Sarah Jane passed on stories to her kids.

So sorry it's so late, I really do appreciate that so many of you have continued to ask after it. Math class eats up way too much time.


	6. Chapter 5

**Torchwood Check Up**

Ianto was coming back in to work later that day. Of course, he would be restricted to desk work for several weeks, to rest up his bruises, but no one in the base could go more than a day or so without Ianto's coffee. Jack was decided. His first project would be a full background check on Maria Jackson. Jack would have to go alone to the meeting, he wasn't going to give up info on the Doctor to anyone, not even his team, but he would have to be prepared. For all he knew, the email came from something pretending to be a little girl, not a real one.

Luke didn't like it up in the main room. There were too many things that could be used on him, computers that they could ask him to hack into, alien artifacts that might be used to hurt people. It was obvious that they'd tried to clean up a bit, with much of the stuff he'd glimpsed coming in out of sight, but that only made him more nervous. If this was the stuff he was allowed to see, what kind of things were they hiding from him?

Maria was quite nervous. She'd told her dad that she wanted to go around London a couple more times before they had to leave, and that had seemed to work, but once she'd said she wanted to go alone, he'd made her promise to take Clyde with her. She'd wanted to keep her meeting secret, she didn't want this Captain Harkness to know more than he absolutely had to, but, eventually, she'd agreed. So, now, she was staring at her phone, attempting to work up the courage to call Clyde and tell him about her plans for tomorrow. It was probably for the best. She might need backup. However, she'd already lost one friend. If Clyde reacted the way she expected him to, she might lose both.

Owen quickly snapped on some latex gloves, fetching one of the few ugly patient gowns that Torchwood owned. He did a bit of work on the employees every once in a while, but alien autopsy's didn't really require gowns. More like full on protective gear.

"Here he is!" Tosh exclaimed brightly. "One patient delivered, Doctor Harper. Remember to give him a lollipop at the end."

"We don't carry lollipops Tosh. I might be able to scrounge up a cookie, or some juice, but that's about it." Owen bantered back. He didn't try to address the kid just yet, knowing that he should probably create a relaxed atmosphere first. Instead, he simply started observing him, trying to see where he should get started. He hadn't had to try this hard with a patient since he was an actual medical doctor, working in a hospital, with real, live, human patients. His colleagues were all accustomed to his brash personality, and he really didn't have to try hard on the alien visitors that came through his lab. 99% of them were already dead.

"We don't have lollipops? I could have sworn Ianto bought some. Or was that popsicles?" Obviously, Tosh had read the same psychology manual as he had.

Luke was getting annoyed. The two adults were practically quoting the textbook detailing how to deal with abused and traumatized children, section 14 b. He'd read it once, at his Mum…Sarah-Jane's house, just in case they had to deal with a kid viewing some scary alien, or something in the course of their investigations. He'd barely skimmed section 14, as that was geared almost entirely towards medical professionals, which he was not, but that was enough for him to know that he was being patronized. He didn't need it. He wasn't abused, there was nothing wrong with him, mentally! He'd read pretty much every self help or psychology book there was in the public library, trying to figure out how regular humans thought, how they interacted. Clyde was immensely helpful in that department, but he just didn't understand how deeply Luke didn't get it. Clyde helped him fake being a normal kid, but he didn't understand why people did most of the things Clyde deemed 'normal teen behaviour'. It just didn't make sense. After reading up on the adolescent development of the prefrontal cortex, some of the weird behaviour that he was faking seemed more understandable, but that just made him more of an outsider. He was supposed to be a regular, human teenage boy. Why didn't his underdeveloped prefrontal cortex make him act out too? It was simply more proof that he wasn't a part of their world. That he couldn't be Sarah Jane's son.

"I think that it was popsicles, Tosh. You know how Jack loves them." Tosh grimaced. Everyone knew about Jack's weird obsession with banana popsicles. Every time someone asked about it, he told them a different, equally ridiculous story. The latest included some sort of humanoid alien who stole Jack's 'sonic blaster', and replaced it with a banana. The best part, was that this all took place in the 50's. Apparently, he'd had a deep, and abiding love of everything banana since then.

Luke became impatient. He really didn't want to deal with people creeping around on their tiptoes because they thought he was abused. Not that he really understood why they would, anyway. They thought he was an alien. Why would they try to be sensitive? "I wasn't abused." He was short, to the point. He didn't need to give them any more information about himself.

"What?" Owen was now confused. First of all, how did the boy even know that they thought he was abused? Secondly, why did he deny it? The longer he looked at him, the more obvious it was that he'd been a runaway, all the evidence pointed to it. Equally obvious, his parents weren't looking for him. "I'm pretty sure you were."

"I can assure you, I wasn't, so it is completely unnecessary to use methods out of the book by P. Forrest Talley. It would be more helpful if you simply did all the procedures necessary to assure you of my health, and allowed me to go back to my cell."

Owen bit his lip. The kid sounded so clinical, so professional, that he almost believed him. Yet, Luke wanted to go back to his cell. He felt more comfortable locked up, than up here with him and Tosh. Even if he hadn't been abused, there had to have been something to give him those trust issues. He found it doubtful that it had been the cannibals. If it had been, experience told him that he should have bonded to the people who'd rescued him, namely, them. He wasn't. He didn't trust them, and Owen didn't know why. It bothered him. "Alrigh' then. I can do that. If you would change into this here hospital gown, we can get started."

"Yes, sir." Luke answered, politely. He really didn't want to get changed. The clothes that he had on, were the last set that Maria had gotten for him. He didn't want these people to take them away. They were his last mementos from home.

Tosh felt guilty. There really wasn't any reason. They were just doing their job, and they were trying to be nice to the boy at the same time. She really shouldn't be concerned, her job required a certain amount of emotional imperviousness. It wouldn't do for her to feel sorry for all the dangerous aliens out there. That was Gwen's job. The rest of them had to remain strong, had to understand that there was a certain amount of risk that went along with the job. They had to know the ugliness in the world, and understand that they just couldn't save everybody. However, for some reason, this one was different. This one had gotten to her. Perhaps it was the fact that he was a kid. Maybe it was just because he looked so very human, even though Jack assured her that he wasn't. It didn't matter. She felt bad for him, and no amount of logic was changing that fact.

Luke got behind the screen that Owen had set up, and quickly changed into the rather breezy gown. He didn't like it, the gown made him feel exposed, and then there was the part where he didn't know where to put his clothes. He wasn't going to hand them over, that much was obvious, but Luke found it rather unlikely that the checkup could happen while he held on to the clothes.

"I'm ready," he announced, bundling his clothes up into a tight ball, "where do you want me?"

Owen was surprised, yet again. There really was something about the kid that kept him on his toes. He had been so scared, at even the thought of a checkup yesterday, and now, here he was, all cool and collected, asking where he was supposed to sit. It was rather eerie. Even if the kid wasn't an alien, there was definitely something off about him. No kid he'd ever met had gotten over a fear that fast, and he'd never met a kid who got over a fear while in an alien base, locked up, with no clue what was going on. Yeah, there was definitely something off there. "Up there on the table would be fine, thanks. I'd like to start out by cataloguing any injuries that I might need to treat. I'll be needing a bit of a closer look, if ya know what I mean, so we can get Tosh to leave if it makes you more comfortable."

Luke frowned. They were offering to reduce security around him, in order to make him more comfortable? It wasn't even like when Tosh had walked him up, Luke could SEE the door leading to the outside world from his spot on the man's sterilized table. Why were they offering? It simply didn't make sense.

Ianto Jones hobbled slowly down into the hub. He was practically a walking bruise, everything hurt. However, there was nothing else wrong with him, and he was perfectly able to help out around the Hub. He was also curious to find out what happened to the boy that they'd rescued. Ianto seemed to recall something about Jack, did he recognize the boy? That had potential to be true. He'd been bustled away by paramedics too quickly for him to really remember, and he'd been rather woozy on top of that. He'd ask Tosh, once he'd gotten in. She would know what'd happened to the kid.

He entered the Hub slowly, flitting his gaze from computer to computer, attempting to discover which program Tosh was currently working on. She should've been in the north east quadrant of the lab, working on the language assimilation program she was developing, but she was no where in sight. Perhaps she was taking over some of his own jobs, such as feeding Myfanway, or maybe she was out on a rift call. Ianto felt slightly guilty. Tosh was busy enough as it was, without taking over his responsibilities, he should have come in sooner.

"Ianto Jones, I know that look," Jack called loudly, "stop feeling guilty. You're on desk duty for the next couple weeks, so the rest of us'll pick up the slack, and wait on you for a while." Ianto blushed. He really shouldn't be so easy to read. He usually prided himself on his mask, on the stone wall between his thoughts and his face. That Jack could read him so easily meant that he was slipping, and that wasn't an option. He just got his job back. He couldn't let them know that he was still suffering. They might take it away.

"Yes sir. Is there anything you need sir?"

"As a matter of fact, I already have a job for you." Jack announced, his voice carrying clearly across the Hub. He'd never learned to reign in his voice, and there weren't really any doors to the med bay. The three people in there were already quiet, waiting for Luke to make his decision, so each word was floating in crystal clear. "I need you to do a background check on a Maria Jackson, she could be a threat, and I'm going to see her tomorrow."

"No!" Came a young voice from the med bay, shocking both Ianto and Jack into silence. Neither of them had realized that Luke was anywhere nearby, Ianto because he hadn't realized the boy'd been taken to the Hub, and Jack, because he'd stopped watching them, and hadn't realized they'd gotten him up already. The boy rushed into the main Hub, easily slipping by both Owen, who had been opposite from the exit, and Tosh, who'd covered her eyes in order to give Luke a semblance of privacy.

Luke rushed into the main lab. He had a clear layout of the base, and the people in it, as a map in his head, and he'd been toying with an escape plan, so it wasn't hard. However, instead of trying to get to the entrance, he rushed to a stop in front of the 'Jack' person who'd caught him out as not human, and Ianto, the man who'd been caught by the cannibals. "Leave Maria alone! I'll, I'll do anything you want! You can do whatever tests you want, I won't stop you, just leave Maria alone. She hasn't done anything wrong, I promise. She isn't a threat."

Jack watched the boy in front of him carefully. It was obvious that he was panicked. It was an interesting development, but he'd consider the ramifications later. Right now, he needed to reassure their guest. If nothing else, this was the final proof that the kid wasn't a danger to them, or, at the very least, didn't plan to be. It was obvious that he cared deeply about the girl, and none of the dangerous aliens he'd thought the kid might be could fake half that much emotion. If nothing else, Jack was sure that Luke was what he appeared to be…a scared human kid. What else he might be was immaterial, Luke was special, that much was sure, but Jack didn't think that he was inherently dangerous. Therefore, the next point of action would be to reassure a terrified kid, who he'd been keeping locked up. It wasn't something that he had much experience with. New territory.

Ianto saw that his boss was occupied…studying the boy? Odd. So, he did what he always did when Jack was too distracted to do his job. He did it for him. The other option was to make Jack coffee, and remind him of his job, but that seemed too time consuming. This was was much easier.

"Hey, hey," Ianto started, reaching out to the boy, in order to give him a hug. That was where he was stopped, as the boy had skipped backwards, like a skittish colt, and fallen off the steps, tumbling down to the main floor of the Hub below, right next to where Owen, in an effort to re-catch the kid, had just run up. He quickly got to work, ascertaining if anything had broken in his tumble, if it was safe to move him.

"Nothing seems to be broken. Jack, go get the stretcher in the med bay, and bring it back here. Tea boy, go sit down, I really don't need two patients, Tosh, if you'd please come over here, he seems to be unresponsive, and if he wakes up, he'll probably be disoriented. You're the least threatening of us, and he seems to trust you, the most of anyone. Jack, I need to tell you, that I will not perform any tests on the kid, he's freaked out enough, and I really don't think he's an alien. I took the hippocratic oath, and while usually, for this job, I'm prepared to ignore that, I won't in this circumstance. He's not dangerous, as far as I can tell, so I'll be treating him like any other patient."

Jack got back quickly with the stretcher. While he didn't really appreciate such ultimatums from his medical doctor, he had to agree. As far as he could tell, the kid was a kid, even if he was in the wrong time period. They had a responsibility to him, to keep him safe. They'd already failed him, he'd been captured by cannibals, locked up, like he was some sort of criminal, and then they'd caused him to fall down the stairs. "Agreed. I'd appreciate a few, non-invasive tests be performed, but other than that, I'm in total agreement."

"I'll update him to guest status." Tosh confirmed quickly. There were multiple levels of clearance around the Hub, Luke previously being in the lowest level, where he was in lockdown. Guest status would grant him access to anything that wasn't dangerous, and meant that he didn't require one of them to go around with him at all times.

"Guest it is." Jack agreed quickly.


	7. Chapter 6

**Smith, as in Sarah Jane?**

Owen worked quickly, strapping Luke to the stretcher carefully, making sure not to jostle anything. He didn't think anything was broken, but he'd prefer to be careful anyway. There was no way that he was injuring this kid more, if there was any way to prevent it. Katie had always wanted kids. He'd always been rubbish with them, but he'd always tried, for her. She'd want him to be sensitive with this one. To get him to trust again. Katie was always trying to help.

It was a little worrying, that Luke hadn't woken up, but as Owen checked the boy's skull, there didn't seem to be anything to indicate a concussion. He decided that it was probably best that the boy be unconscious for this inspection. He'd been so uncomfortable with the idea, that it would be easier to do the initial inspection with a non resistant patient.

Luke had perfected the art of pretending to be asleep when he wasn't. It was a good tactic to use to make people underestimate you, as he'd discovered on the streets. Of course, he'd begun the art at home…no, with Sarah-Jane, as he read late into the night, and attempted to fool her into thinking that he went asleep when she told him to. Clyde was a good teacher. Teenagers did get some things right, and the honed skills to tell lies to their parents was one of them.

He felt someone probing around his skull, and as he registered latex gloved, he realized that Owen must be checking his skull for injuries. That was right, he'd fallen, hadn't he? Right after…

"No, no, not Maria, I'll do anything, just don't hurt her!" Owen jumped as the boy came out of, what he now realized was fake, unconsciousness with a vengeance.

"We're not going to hurt her," Owen assured him, "you're friend is safe from us, we won't hurt either of you."

A frown melted onto Luke's face. "Then why do you need to perform a background check on her?" Luke asked.

Jack decided that it was his turn to answer a question. "A Maria Jackson sent me an email this morning. Said she needed my help with something. We don't know who she is, so I was going to check her out, before meeting with her."

Luke sighed, ever so slightly relieved. Then, there was the other part of him that was terrified. What was Maria doing, contacting these people? Why on earth would she need their help? And why would she be the one contacting them? Shouldn't Mum…Sarah Jane be doing that? She'd always insisted on it before. Why would she let Maria do something so potentially dangerous?

Ianto had gone to sit at one of the desks in the Hub, and immediately began searching for Maria Jackson. He didn't really know what was going on, but Owen, Tosh and Jack seemed to have a handle on it, and he trusted them to be doing the right thing.

Maria Jackson seemed to be a regular, thirteen year old girl. She lived on 13 Bannerman Road, attended a school down the road, and got average grades. Her father was a computer technician, and her mother was unemployed. Her parents were divorced, and she lived with her father. He supposed that might be a bit strange, as children usually went with the mother, but as she was unemployed, perhaps he was deemed the most stable.

The oddest thing about her, was that she didn't seem to be involved in any extra curricular activities. Ianto decided to look for her online presence, to see what she did do with her time. Her father might explain how she'd been able to get Jack's email, but it didn't explain how she knew about aliens.

Ianto quickly found a Facebook page under Maria's name. It was private, and it seemed that her father had added some extra protection, but with Tosh's hacking software, Ianto soon made it in.

He'd hit gold. He quickly looked through most of the pictures, and smiled. He slowly made his way down to the med bay, minding Owen's instructions to be careful, and prepared to open up the file for Jack. He heard Jack and Owen rushing to reassure the boy of their good intentions.

"Well, sir." Ianto cut in to their conversation smoothly, cutting in as Jack explained why they were looking up Maria Jackson. "I've found her. She's definitely not a threat, but I did find something that you might be interested in."

Luke froze up. He'd never wanted to put his friends in danger. He'd left specifically to avoid that outcome. Ianto walked over to the computer screen, and Luke had no way to stop him. It seemed Owen had strapped him down, probably to prevent any further injury, but right now, he really needed to be let out. He had to stop them from discovering his secret.

Pictures popped up on the screen in front of Jack. Pictures of a young girl, probably pre teen, but that wasn't what was interesting. It was who else was in the photos that had his eyebrows raising in surprise. So. This girl knew Luke. And, apparently, Sarah Jane Smith. Most interestingly, was the caption that came along with one of the pictures. It read, 'Luke Smith's adoption party'. The boy, currently strapped down on Owen's table, was smiling happily out at him, being squeezed tightly by someone very familiar. He knew that he'd seen the boy before. It just wasn't in the 51st century. This was the boy that he'd seen exiting the BubbleShock factory with Sarah Jane Smith. Apparently, he was also her son.

"So. Luke Smith, is it? Well, this is an interesting development."

The cell phone in the palm of her hand rang nearly four times before Clyde picked up. Her friend was always tired now, so very tired. He had been working with Mr Smith, through his laptop, every day after school, hacking into CTV feeds of places that he'd remembered talking about with Luke, and on the weekends, he'd go out on his bike to search the streets manually. She'd been helping, as much as possible, but she didn't have the luxury of being able to lie to her parent. Clyde's mother didn't even know Luke was missing. Everyone thought that he'd been taken out of school by Sarah Jane, getting homeschooled. It didn't take a stretch of the imagination. Everyone knew about Luke's abysmal social skills. Her dad didn't let her spend as much time looking for Luke as she would like. He insisted that she 'continue to live her life'. Didn't he know, it wasn't the same without Luke? Sarah Jane wouldn't let them help out anymore, not really. They could provide support from the attic, but she wouldn't let them come investigate with her anymore, terrified she'd lose someone else. Maria didn't get those weird little anecdotes that helped her remember lessons in class, such as 'if you add zinc from Alvega, the liquid wouldn't turn blue. Their zinc is different.' Luke was special, and her life was better for knowing him. Her father may not acknowledge that, but she did.

"Hallo. This is Clyde." His voice was bleak, dispassionate. He'd changed from the boy he was before.

"It's Maria. I have a favour to ask of you."

"What do you need?"

"A friend."

"Well, I'll always be one of those. Whatever you need."

"What are you going to do to me? I haven't seen Mu…Sarah Jane…in months. You can't get to her through me."

"We're not trying to. Now that we know that you're not dangerous, we're going to help you, okay? Owen needs to look you over a bit, make sure you're all right. You okay with that?" Jack attempted to speak in his most soothing tone of voice. Luke was the son of one of the Doctor's companions, and he'd locked him up, branded him a threat. He should've known the kid was safe, he'd tried to keep up with the Doctor and his companions over the years. Hell, he'd seen the kid with Sarah jane before! What kind conman was he, if he couldn't even keep track of the mark. He knew there was a reason he'd quit.

"No, you're wrong. I'm dangerous. I'm dangerous to everyone. There isn't…you can't help. No one can. I've got to go. I've got to. I've got to." By that point, Luke had deteriorated into a blubbery mess, Tosh had started sniffling sympathetic tears, and Owen had prepared a needle full of tranquilizer fluid. He quickly injected him, the boy falling, over, out like a light in seconds.

"Poor kid. Must have been worn out. Those things usually take a minute." Owen commented.

"Yeah, well, get that check up over, and then we can put him into one of our more hospitable rooms." Jack decreed.

"We have hospitable rooms?" Tosh asked, confused.

"Mmhmm." Jack replied. "They were set up years ago, in case we came across a friendly alien that just couldn't blend in to the environment. We haven't used them in a while, but I think they're still there, and Ianto keeps some clean sheets around, in case we need to sleep over. I can get one ready in thirty minutes, tops."

Ianto reached out to grab Jack's sleeve. "That's my job, sir. I can do it."

"Don't be an idiot. Do you remember how convoluted it is to get to the spare sheets? You'd probably break your ribs in the process. Remember what we just talked about? You are to be resting. Sitting carefully by a computer, doing my paperwork." Jack pointed to the door. "Go. If you're not sitting comfortably by the time I get back, I'll take you home and strap you to the bed. Understand?" As it was Jack, there was a fair amount of innuendo mixed into the comment, making Ianto blush, and quickly vacate the room. They all heard him slump into one of the rolling office chairs, and slide over a stack of papers. Apparently, he took Jack seriously when he was told to do the man's paperwork.

Soon, everybody had something to do. Ianto started an in-depth background check on everyone at Luke Smith's adoption party, namely, Maria and Alan Jackson, Luke Smith, Sarah-Jane Smith, and Clyde Langer. Tosh was sent out to get the boy some things, he'd need them, until his mother could come get him. Jack had said that the mother was reliable, which meant that they could contact her soon, without needing to look into abuse, or contacting the authorities to do it for them. That did make their lives easier. However, Jack had decided to wait a bit, just until they could talk to Luke. There were still questions. For example, why had he run away, and, more importantly, why hadn't his mother reported him missing? Jack was madly cleaning up a room for the kid, while Owen continued his exam. He'd decided to give the boy enough sedative to make him sleep until noon tomorrow. The kid needed it.

Owen started his exam methodically, checking all of the boy's limbs for breaks. He would do a visual exam before starting anything more invasive. Soon, he'd run out of flesh to examine without disrobing the boy further. He knew he'd have to, but it just felt like such a violation. He quickly went to get one of the surgical sheets, determined to at least give the kid an illusion of privacy. The man quickly folded up the gown, placing the sheet over his legs and nether regions, in order to examine the boy's stomach. It was slightly distended, a sign of malnourishment, which he'd rather expected, so that wasn't what gave him a shock. The boy had no bellybutton. He checked again, looking for any signs of surgical removal, or skin grafts that might cover the area, and found nothing. He'd seen something like it twice before, one before Torchwood, on a severe burn victim, whose entire stomach had gotten third degree burns, and once soon after joining up, on the remains of an alien's efforts to clone humans. It obviously wasn't a repeat of the first case, that man's body had noticeable skin grafts everywhere, the skin twisted and distorted, a slightly new complexion beginning every time a new skin graft was placed. This kid looked nothing like that. His skin was obviously that…his. No, this case looked very similar to a case Torchwood had cleared up sometime last year, before Gwen really got there. A case where there was a boy with no bellybutton, a case where aliens were attempting to make the perfect human, a test subject. That boy had been dead, or rather, had never been alive. It hadn't worked. This boy, though. He was alive. Breathing. Yet, he looked exactly like that dead boy that they had rescued from a warehouse a couple days before Gwen joined the team. Not exactly, as the facial features were different, but it was obviously the same experiment. Only, in this case, it had worked. What had he gone through? What had happened to him?

"Jack!" Owen called loudly into the main hub. "There's something that you really need to look at!"

Jack was walking down the hallway with an armload of sheets for the boy's room, but when one of the team yelled for him, he knew that he really should come quickly. Wouldn't want to miss an emergency.

"What is it?" He questioned Owen breathlessly as he skid into the room. "What's wrong?"

"It's Luke." Owen replied. "He…really isn't normal, Jack."

Jack looked at the boy cautiously. Not Normal was a term that they tended to treat with caution at Torchwood. "What, exactly, Owen?"

"He's not exactly a kid, Jack. He's the result of an alien experiment. Remember that dead kid we found in the factory occupied by those…green land squids? He's like him. Only it worked."

Jack looked down at the boy carefully. He should have realized when he saw the boy leave the factory. He was wearing the exact same outfit as the dead boy they'd found barely a week earlier. Sarah Jane had adopted him…from aliens. It sounded precisely like what one of the Doctor's companion's would do. "Is it a problem?" He asked tersely.

"No." Owen replied. "I'll have to do some more tests, to see what they might have changed, or gotten wrong when they…made him, but other than that, the kid should be perfectly fine. Uhh…maybe with a bit of extensive therapy. Can't be easy to have been made by aliens, AND be a teenager."

"I guess not." Jack replied.

"I'll do an x-ray, take some blood, and then I think the boy should just rest a bit."

"Sounds good. I'll get the bed ready. Bring him down when your done?"

"Keep your earpiece on for directions, will you? I still can't believe I didn't know we had guest rooms."

"It was an effort to ensure that you'd leave at the end of the day. Torchwood's had cases of employees that never left, and went insane."

"On that cheery note, I'll get started. You can leave now."

Jack knew a dismissal when he heard one.


	8. Chapter 7

**Meeting Maria Jackson**

Jack headed out early the next morning in Ianto's car. The man had fallen asleep at work, and Jack hadn't the heart to wake him up and send him home. Apparently Ianto hadn't realized that pain medication made him sleepy. He'd given Jack permission to use his car when needed at work, so Jack just left a note and took it. He needed to meet with Miss Jackson, but the team might need the Torchwood car.

He got into London around one o clock. He'd always found it best to get to meetings early, and while Maria Jackson was, in all probability, a regular thirteen year old girl, and therefore not a threat, there was always the chance that this was a trick. She was obviously exposed to aliens in some way, those same aliens could be pretending to be her in order to get him to lower his guard.

Jack was right, in a way. When he got to the fountain five minutes after one, it wasn't Maria Jackson that he saw, it was Clyde Langer, the other boy in the photographs. However, as he wasn't really any more dangerous than Maria, Jack decided he would still show up.

"Mr Langer." He said softly, sitting down next to the boy at the water fountain. "I wasn't expecting you."

"No," a girl's voice echoed out from behind him. "you were expecting me. Please come with us. We need your help."

Jack turned around quickly, unused to having people successfully sneak up on him. He quickly realized that she'd just stepped out of a busy coffeeshop, holding what seemed to be a large black tea, and another hot chocolate. "Where would you take me?"

"Somewhere that you couldn't have bugged, or monitored, or staked out late last night." Maria replied.

"Yeah," Clyde agreed, "you're one of those government agent types, who knows what you might have planned."

Jack was reluctantly impressed. It was impressive for two kids their age to be quite so organized, so careful about their secrets. Their attempts were juvenile, they hadn't asked him if he was bugged, or factored in a colleague that may simply follow them to their next location, but he was still impressed. His level of thoroughness only came with time. "That would be fine. Lead the way."

He followed Maria and Clyde out of the square, and down several side streets. He hadn't had much to do with London in the past century, but he was doing his best to follow along in his internal map, mapping out what was most likely in front of him. He wasn't all that surprised, when they ended their journey in the middle of a thickly wooded park. It was secluded enough to discuss private topics in relative safety. It was also where he found their bikes.

"Captain Harkness." Maria addressed him, respectively. "Please, sit down."

Jack promptly sat down on one of the smooth logs that littered the clearing. There were four large ones, arranged in a rough circle around a fire pit. It appeared that this was also the location of several wild teenage parties. "You have something important that you need to discuss with me?" Jack shoved the ball into their court. He wanted to discuss Luke with them later, but perhaps with Sarah-Jane, besides, it wouldn't do to shaw his hand too soon. There might be some other problem that they needed his help with. Or, perhaps they had something to do with Luke running away. He needed more information, and these kids were the ones to give it to him.

"Yes." Maria began hesitantly. "You must understand, our issue is delicate. We don't want Torchwood, UNIT, or any other alien organization to know about it. They wouldn't understand. It wouldn't be safe. But we do need help. You were the best compromise. You travelled with the Doctor. You're the closest thing to trustworthy we could find."

It was frustrating. The girl was dancing around the issue, uncertain and skittish. He'd have to be careful, earn her trust. "I promise, whatever you tell me won't be spread around. Unless it's knowledge of the apocalypse. That's something I've got to report."

"It's not the apocalypse." Maria assured quickly. "We have this…friend. He's missing. But, we can't go to the authorities, because he's a bit…different. Legally, he doesn't really exist. So, if people dig too deep, he could get in trouble. Big trouble. The thing is, we can't go to anyone who specializes in this, like your organization, cause you guys might get the wrong idea. He's not dangerous, he's just different. Would…would you be willing to help us find him? Off the record?"

Maria's explanation was a bit convoluted, and it was obvious that she was trying really hard not to give away Luke's secret, but Jack got the gist. They were looking for Luke, but since he was created by the Bane, they were afraid that he'd want to experiment on him, or something. It made sense, if they'd come across Torchwood One, the London branch, they'd have more than enough reason to be wary of his intentions. "I understand. I won't try to take your friend away, for experiments, or whatever else you two have imagined happening to him. My team found Luke two days ago. Once we're sure he's safe, and hasn't suffered any adverse effects while on the run, we'll send him home."

Clyde ran over and tackled him. "You've got Luke? Where are you holding him? What are you going to him? Let him go!"

"I just told you," Jack groaned, the thirteen year old boy sitting on his chest, "our doctor is just giving him a check up. Once we're sure he's alright, we'll send him home. He's just a kid. We aren't interested in poking into how he became one, we just want to make sure he's alright."

While Clyde pinned Jack down on the forest floor, Maria frantically called Sarah-Jane. "Sarah-Jane, Sarah-Jane," she called breathlessly into the phone once the older woman picked up, "we've found Luke! We know where he is!"

Sarah-Jane Smith was quiet for a moment, before answering. "Where are you? I'll pick you up, and then we can all go get him."

"We're in the middle of a park five minutes away from the parliament buildings. We'll head out to the fountain in front to wait for you."

"That's fine. I'll be there in…fifteen minutes."

"We'll be waiting."

Sarah Jane Smith was inwardly freaking out. Her young friends, the ones she had been trying to exclude, and keep safe, were in downtown London, and they said that they'd found Luke. Her baby. She didn't even want to imagine what they'd been doing to find him. Had they gotten involved with some sort of alien group? They wouldn't have involved the authorities, but they were only children, someone, or someTHING could have preyed on their vulnerabilities, could have taken advantage of their desperation. It could be a trap! They could be in danger! There could be more aliens waiting on the sidelines that would hurt her kids! There could be…at that point she stopped the car, as she saw the children waiving her down, in the company of one Captain Jack Harkness.

Sarah Jane Smith was standing in front of me. THE Sarah Jane Smith, the one that had met the Doctor twice in her life, the second time just a few years before. He'd always wondered what it was about the woman that drew the Doctor to her. Whether she'd help him find the Doctor himself.

"Sarah Jane Smith. It's a pleasure to meet you." Jack grinned charmingly at her. She, at least, was old enough to flirt with. While he was flexible, he did draw the line at minors.

"Captain. I presume you are the one that has my son? What have you done with him? Where is he?" Sarah Jane was in no state of mind to be rational, and polite. Her baby was in the hands of a Torchwood agent. Who knew what had happened to him.

"He's safe, Ms Smith. We found him on one of our missions the other day, and recently discovered his identity. Our doctor is just checking him over, seeing what might need to be done to get him healthy again." Jack placated the women. He had relatively little experience with mothers, or children, but he had enough to know that she wouldn't calm down until her child was safe. His own mother had never gotten over Grey's disappearance, it was irrational to think that this woman would behave with more restraint.

"What do you mean you found him on a mission! All your missions are dangerous! There are guns! My baby wouldn't be caught up with that! Why does he need a doctor? I won't let you experiment on him. I know what Torchwood does to people, I won't let Luke become one of your freakish experiments. He's just a boy!"

Maria could see her second mother falling apart. "Sarah Jane, just let him explain. He's promised not to hurt Luke, he just wants to know he's safe before he sends him home."

Jack followed up where Maria left off. "Dr Harper believes that Luke was on the run for a while before we found him. He's a bit malnourished. He wasn't caught up in anything alien. He was kidnapped by humans, who we were monitoring for alien activity. We rescued him when we made the bust. He'll be fine, a little traumatized, probably, but fine. Dr Harper has him resting, and I saw him ordering a lot of fruits and vegetables when I left, but other than that, he should be okay. Do you want to come back to the hub? You're obviously already in on the secret, so there's no reason not to. I think Owen might want to monitor Luke for a while, make sure he's okay. I believe that you wouldn't want him to go to a regular hospital?"

Sarah Jane Smith worked on controlling her breathing while the Captain spoke. She knew that any companion of the Doctor's wouldn't be a true threat, but that wasn't true of the rest of his team. They could be harming Luke as they spoke. However, he did make a point, his doctor would be preferable to a regular human doctor, as long as he was trustworthy. She'd go see her baby, and then make the decisions. "Take me to him. Please."

Owen was worried. His young charge had yet to wake up. It was odd, as he hadn't really given him enough sedative to knock him out for more than a couple hours, so Owen took it as a sign of how badly the kid needed rest. He hadn't been asleep at all the night before, constantly on guard, refusing to shut his eyes, even for a moment. Owen wondered, briefly, how long it had been since the boy slept properly. Whether he'd forced himself to be aware, and awake for as long as possible ever since he ran away. If that was the case, he'd have to prescribe something other than vitamins to help him recover. Sleeping aids at the least, anti-anxiety medication would have to be looked into. Perhaps some sort of drug to ward off PTSD. He would have to ask Jack if there were psychiatrists that could be trusted with the alien secret. There would be little point sending him to one that he had to lie to. That would probably just make things worse.

Jack was out. He'd left earlier that morning, without a word about what he might be doing, except possibly to Ianto, and had yet to return. It was troublesome, because, if, as Owen hoped, the boy woke up soon, Jack wouldn't be around to help calm him down. In fact, Owen himself was the only person in the hub, that he knew about, that morning, meaning he'd have to deal with a potentially frightened and traumatized boy all on his own. He wasn't all that great with kids, even less so with traumatized ones. All he had to look at was the way the kid saw through him and Tosh the day before, to know that the little psychology and general protocol wouldn't be of much help to him.

It was overwhelming. He wasn't supposed to be responsible for anything alive. Ianto took care of the captives, all he had to do was dissect dead things, and that was the way he liked it. He hadn't been able to look after his dead fiancée, why on earth was he responsible for a child?


End file.
